Laurence Dollimore
THERESA MAY has called on Britain to ‘seize the day’ as the UK prepares to invoke article 50 and withdraw from the EU.
Speaking at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister labelled Brexit a once-in-a-generation moment to ‘reshape our nation once again’.
She said Britain had been handed the ‘rare chance to write a new future upon the page’ as the Government ends Brussels’ rule and begins to ‘bring power home’.
She said in her keynote speech: “Come with me and we’ll write that brighter future.
“Come with me and we’ll make that change. Come with me as we rise to meet this moment.
“Come with me and together let’s seize the day.”
She said it is everyone’s responsibility to forge ahead and grasp the opportunity, whether they voted remain or leave, adding that a ‘change is going to come’ following the vote, which she described as a ‘quiet revolution’ in Britain.
She said: “A revolution in which millions of our fellow citizens stood up and said they were not prepared to be ignored anymore.
“Because this is a turning point for our country. A once-in-a-generation chance to change the direction of our nation for good.
“To step back and ask ourselves what kind of country we want to be.”
The speech was May’s first conference speech as Tory leader since replacing David Cameron, who she thanked for the ‘change’ he brought to the Conservatives.
But she said the party must ‘change again’ and shed its out-of-touch image.
She said: “We the Conservative Party truly are the party of the workers, the party of the public servants, the party of the NHS.”
She went on to blast the SNP and Jeremy Corbyn for being divisive figures in UK politics, and vowed to keep the Union together.
“We are one United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland – I will always fight to preserve our historic Union,” she said.
Considering May was an avowed “Remainer” she does a good job of changing sides. This will probably be a precursor to the rest of her promises and aims.
Workers rights? Doesn’t fit, no problem, just change it. Equality? Same. Tax-dodgers? Same. She may be trying to steal Corbyns’ clothes, but they’d never fit a Tory. Her conference speech was nothing but a stream of mendacity, no substance, no details.
Yep, it was pretty desperate stuff with a very grey tinge. What stood out most were the members of the audience who were decidedly down in the boat and not clapping. Still, keep telling yourself something for long enough and you will believe it in the end. Brexit bounce!
“She said it is everyone’s responsibility to forge ahead and grasp the opportunity, whether they voted remain or leave,”
No it’s the remainers responsibility to do everything they can to reverse this decision. It was a slim majority and based on lies. The recent good economic news comes on the back of us still being in the EU and a much weaker pound. Wait till we have left and the chickens of lower trade and higher inflation come home to roost.
Agreed, and with a demographic shift in 5 years’ time, the 48% will become over 50% particularly if you include the people who left the UK more than 15 years ago who should have been able to vote.
The so called ‘Brexit bounce’ has lulled everyone into a false sense of security (Cameron said he would trigger A50 immediately after the referendum result and economic forecasts were based on that) and we won’t know the real impact until A50 has been triggered and we are locked into a 2 year negotiation period. The EU will play hardball and probably let the clock run down meaning the UK will have to revert to WTO tariffs and that is when the real impact will be felt and they will not be able to rely on an undervalued pound alone to compensate for it.
I wonder if the UK will have no option other than to have temporary membership of the EEA post-Brexit which will probably end up becoming permanent.